1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging control device and a subject detection method for an imaging apparatus or an imaging system. In addition, the present invention relates to a program for realizing the imaging control device and the subject detection method.
2. Description of the Related Art
JP-A-2009-100300 discloses a technique for performing automatic composition adjustment and automatic recording of a captured image, which is obtained by the composition adjustment, in an imaging system including a digital still camera and a camera platform which changes the pan/tilt direction of the digital still camera electrically.
In the technique disclosed in JP-A-2009-100300, a subject which is a person is searched for using a face detection technique, for example. Specifically, a subject (person's face) projected within the image frame is detected while rotating the digital still camera in the pan direction using the camera platform.
In addition, if a subject is detected within the image frame as a result of such a subject search, determination regarding the optimal composition corresponding to the detection state (for example, the number of subjects or the position or size of a subject) of a subject within the image frame at that point in time is performed (optimal composition determination). That is, optimal angles of pan, tilt, and zoom are calculated.
In addition, if the optimal angles of pan, tilt, and zoom are calculated by the optimal composition determination as described above, pan, tilt, and zoom angles are adjusted with the optimal angles as target angles (composition adjustment).
After the composition adjustment is completed, automatic recording of the captured image is performed.
According to the automatic imaging operation (automatic recording of a captured image) using such automatic composition adjustment, a captured image based on the optimal composition can be automatically recorded without a user's imaging operation.